I Walk With Monsters #1

I Walk With Monsters #1

Vault Comics/Nightfall 2020

Written by Paul Cornell

Illustrated by Sally Cantrino

Coloured by Dearbhla Kell

Lettered by AndWorld Design

In Jacey’s past is the Important Man who took away her brother. Now Jacey has David, who sometimes transforms into a terrifying beast. Together, they’ve found a way to live--and to hunt, sniffing out men who prey on the vulnerable. But Jacey and David are about to run into the Important Man again.

I found this to be incredibly interesting and it fits into Paul’s style of storytelling with a cerebral edge very very nicely. What an introduction to a series too as the opening doesn’t waste any time by throwing the reader into the deep end. We’re mid story arc when this starts and it actuals starts at the perfect moment to showcase exactly what this is going to be about. This is Paul at his finest folks and it is some incredible storytelling. It is also pretty easy to get pulled into the story as well once it gets moving and it has a very smooth way of taking you through it’s pages.

I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The dialogue here is fantastic as the two banter back and forth which tells us both a lot about them as well as brings us a good deal of storytelling. The character development may come across as solid but there is a lot of pain and anger int h3e characters that still needs to be explored. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the world, the characters and what we can expect to continue seeing it sets up this kind of chilling and thought provoking reality.

I think the way that this is being structured and how we see the layering within the story coming to life is extraordinary to see. Even if those layers are within the characters own story lines regarding their pasts. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is rather remarkable. The way this is written and how it pushes the envelope with monsters who are real and those who are supposed to be myth is stunning.

I am really rather impressed with the interiors here as well. The linework we see is great and it’s strength through the varying weights as techniques with how it spotlights not only the detail work but the mood, tone and ambiance is phenomenal. I will admit to being a little sad when we saw David but not fully in his bare human form because I wanted to see him in all his glory. There is some interesting and judicious utilisation of backgrounds going on here that I actually like. They bring a sense of consistency to the moments and a nice sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective int he panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The colour work is incredible. How we see the hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rendered extremely well. The creativity and imagination that we see is beautifully shown and the overall effect of what we see and learn is stellar stuff.

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I love the message we see here as well with the monsters aren’t always under the bed but some are made of flesh and blood and blend in to society without anyone being the wiser. It can be a scary thing for a kid to realise and even worse when it consumes you. Strong and powerful and entertaining like you wouldn’t believe.